The Pimsleur® Method: the easiest, fastest way to learn French. Completely portable, easily downloadable, and lots of fun. You’ll be speaking and understanding French in no time flat!

With this newest edition of French 1, we reflect the general trend in France toward casual interaction and have updated vocabulary and structures. What you are learning is neither stilted “textbook” French, nor “street” French, but rather everyday French as spoken in France.

This course includes Lesson 1-5 from the French Level 1 program featuring 2.5 hours of language instruction. Each lesson provides 30 minutes of spoken language practice, with an introductory conversation, and new vocabulary and structures. Detailed instructions enable you to understand and participate in the conversation. Practice for vocabulary introduced in previous lessons is included in each lesson. The emphasis is on pronunciation and comprehension, and on learning to speak French.

Reading Lessons begin in Lesson 2 and provide you with an introduction to reading French. A Reading Booklet and a User's Guide are included with your download.

The French Language

French is spoken by 55 million speakers in France, 3 million in Belgium, 1.5 million in Switzerland, 6.5 million in Canada, and 5 million in former French and Belgian colonies. It is an official language in 44 countries and an official language of the United Nations. An estimated 50 million people around the world speak French as a second language.